She couldn’t possibly not know. The look in his eyes that held only her showed not even the slightest tremor. An absolute emotion of unfathomable depth simply boiled endlessly, its limits invisible. In that moment, Florencia perfectly understood what the true purpose of her education with her kind teacher had been.

Behind the secret education, there existed a plan to fill her body with holy power and take her to Elysium, but the true purpose lay elsewhere.

The warm breaths shared as their lips overlapped, the saliva exchanged as he refused to release her small tongue, the delicate fingertips that carefully caressed her soft skin. These were the only expressions of heart he could offer in place of saying “I love you,” bound as he was by the Pope’s command.

That emotion he wanted to secretly convey by invading even the most feminine parts of her, who still didn’t understand romantic feelings between men and women.

“Father……”

Ludwig, who was looking into her eyes, still said nothing, but she could feel so clearly what his eyes, his heart, his hands, his everything was saying.

“Ah……”

Finally, hearing something snap inside her heart, Florencia slowly opened her mouth.

“……I love you……”

The words Ludwig couldn’t say flowed clearly from between her small lips.

It didn’t matter whose lips the words came from, since they knew they shared the same feelings. An overwhelming emotion that couldn’t be stopped poured out like a burst dam, and Florencia kept crying as she spoke.

“……Father Ludwig, I love you……”

Have I been a good teacher to you? He asked with his eyes while gently pressing down on her lips. Florencia quietly nodded in response to his question.

The curtains were open, but she wasn’t cold at all. The bright moonlight shining through the window felt warm instead, and beneath it, their hot bodies overlapped as their tender feelings connected. When she felt a heavy, hard part of his body against her lower region, Florencia opened her closed eyes. He wanted her. She nodded without a moment’s hesitation at his gaze asking for permission.

Soon, a body whiter and more dazzling than the white moonlight revealed itself. Ludwig grabbed both her wrists and pushed them above her head. Florencia was embarrassed but didn’t avoid his gaze, accepting it fully. Soon, Ludwig’s body overlapped hers, sweetly consuming her.

“……I love you, Father……”

“Laura……”

I love you. As if pained by not being able to respond to her confession, Ludwig bit her er*ect n*pple. His thick, fully er*ect c*ck rubbed against her trembling legs.

“……It’s okay, Father, I understand everything. I’m okay.”

Ah….. While swallowing her small moans, Florencia stretched out her arms and embraced his firm, broad back. Ludwig, who had been touching her cl*toris, positioned himself a little more urgently than usual and rubbed his c*ck against her vaginal entrance.

“Aah, hah……”

The sensation of his thick gl*ns opening her l*bia and stimulating her vaginal entrance was maddeningly ecstatic. The love juices leaking from her p*ssy mixed with his prec*m and flowed downward. He thrust into her endlessly and forcefully, as if wanting to reach the deepest part of Florencia’s heart. His hot, hard c*ck moved vigorously back and forth, engraving itself into the linings of her vaginal wall, plunging deeply again and again.

“Haa, Laura……”

“……Father, uh.”

When he called her name, Laura, and ej*culated while their bodies were completely pressed together, Florencia whispered once more that she loved him. Ludwig silently left teeth marks on her white br*asts and traced her slender waist with his lips. When he went down and sucked on the sensitive part inside her thighs, she shed clear tears from her tightly closed eyes as if she had heard the answer she had been waiting for.

“……Laura, are you okay?”

“I’m okay, do everything, Father.”

Reinforced again, Ludwig inserted his hot, wet shaft and pushed in once more. Florencia didn’t resist even in the embarrassing position with her knees bent and spread to the sides, pushed up to her chest. Her small face exhaling moist sighs was red, but she obediently held her knees and fully exposed her most feminine part before his eyes. The small, delicate l*bia between her legs and the glimpses of pink flesh between them were completely wet. It meant that Florencia desperately wanted him too.

“Ah, huut……”

Whitish fluid flowed through the gap of her spread p*ssy, wetting Florencia’s b*ttocks and soaking his bed sheets.

All through that night, Ludwig took her again and again as if wanting to relieve some overwhelmingly painful emotion. He treated Florencia very preciously, but sometimes bit her here and there painfully, unable to suppress his burning passion. Her white, small body was completely pressed down under him, all red and bruised, but Florencia gladly accepted every act. Neither the pain of her reddened p*ssy being deeply penetrated by his imposingly sized member, nor the shame of exposing her embarrassing place, could overcome her straightforward feelings for him.

“Huh, aah…… Father Ludwig……!”

Under the dazzling winter moonlight, Florencia willingly gave him all her heart and body, everything she had.

The deep night had already turned toward dawn. By the time Ludwig’s lips were meticulously wiping away tears that had not yet dried from her smooth cheeks and eyes, pure white snowflakes were falling and piling up outside the window.

It was the first snow of that year. And of all the seasons and moments of Florencia’s eighteen years, it was the most unforgettable, eternal night.

* * *

Only stillness filled the antique bedroom decorated with elaborate fresco-style paintings and golden columns. In the large room where heavy silence had settled, the small sound of flames crackling from the brass cast-iron stove installed on one side of the wall was the only noise existing in the space.

“……Ludwig……”

Breaking the heavy, long silence, a turbid voice that seemed to crack came from behind the large bed.

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

His beautiful hair swayed like soft silk as he answered the call while drawing back the bed curtains. His fine, long platinum blonde hair was a very light color like the early morning sunlight, but it felt even more noble than the golden wooden carved decorations covering the ceiling.

“I’m sorry to leave you with such a heavy burden.”

“……Please don’t say that.”

The withered face of the man lying in bed already showed the light of life fading away. Each time he exhaled slowly, his chest laboriously rose and fell repeatedly.

“……You and Ella came to the temple the year I first became Pope.”

“I remember.”

“Even at the same age, Ella was always calm, but you…… You probably broke more than half of the statues and basins in the fountains throughout Elysium’s gardens.”

“……”

“When you were seven, I scolded you a bit because your mischief was too severe, and you cried sorrowfully and shouted that when you grew up, you would become a much more merciful Pope…… Do you remember that too, Lud?”

“……I don’t remember that.”

The corners of his lips rose slightly in a faint smile between his white beard that matched his graying hair.

“You are my son, Ludwig.”

“……Your Holiness is the father of all believers.”

“You speak so coldly, I don’t think you were like this when you were young.”

He slowly raised his wrinkled hand to hold Ludwig’s hand and creased his eyes. It was a gentle smile rarely seen during the days when he was called the sharp and majestic Pope, always receiving reverent gazes from high places.

“You will do better than anyone.”

“I am still lacking, Your Holiness. Please guide me.”

“……God will always be by your side and guide your path. Keep your faith but follow where your heart leads you. The closest representative to Him on earth is you, so your will is God’s will.”

He painfully turned his head, looking for someone.

“Elisabeth, where are you.”

“I’m here, Your Holiness.”

“Please help Ludwig a lot, Ella.”

“……Your Holiness……”

Elisabeth’s eyes, unable to continue speaking, were red and swollen. Her beautiful face, taking one step closer to the Pope’s bedside, clearly showed the haggard signs of sleeplessness.

“You be good to Ella too. You know well how much that good child has suffered helping me all this time.”

“It’s all my fault. I’m sorry, Your Holiness.”

“If that child had been a boy, I would have made Ella, not you, the Pope of the next generation.”

There was a slight hint of jest in his tone. However, he couldn’t finish his words and coughed painfully several times in succession.

“……Your Holiness……!”

Though there was hardly any strength in the arm that shook off the supporting hands, deep dignity dwelled in the man’s eyes as he continued speaking.

“……Ludwig, you will become the greatest Pope in history.”

With those final words, he closed his eyes slowly as if with great effort.

Finally, along with the gradually subsiding coughs, his faint breathing also gradually faded. His thick eyelids, which had been twitching slightly, at some point ceased to move.

“……Ah……”

Elisabeth stood still, unable to move, covering her mouth with both hands. Tears silently flowed from her beautiful black eyes like the predawn night sky.

“……May you rest peacefully by God’s side, my father.”

Ludwig whispered softly as he lifted the man’s lifelessly dropped hand and placed it neatly. His long eyelashes cast a moist shadow over his reddened eyes.

“……Farewell.”

After slowly bowing his head in respect, he pulled the cord beside the bed, and people who had been waiting outside entered the room.

The seal ring from the deceased Pope’s wrinkled thick finger came off and floated into the air. Soon, sacred light emanating from Ludwig’s fingertips enveloped it, and it transformed into transparently sparkling silver powder, scattering and disappearing into the air.

“……Your Holiness.”

The people in the room who had watched this scene to the end quietly knelt before their new leader.